Pilkington Choir
Registered Charity XT 26877
Sing in Harmony
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MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Anne O’Hara   ARCM, Cert.Ed
A Lancashire born soprano, Anne studied music at the Liverpool Matthay School of Music  (founded by Dame Myra Hess) where she studied Piano and Voice, gaining her singing Associate qualification at the world renowned, Royal College of Music, in London. She then moved to Birmingham to study with a professional singer and to complete her Teacher Training Certificate.
She returned home to St Helens to get married and take up what turned out to be a short career in teaching and recital work. Unfortunately, Anne was badly injured in a severe riding accident which brought her fledgling solo singing career to a rapid halt. Undaunted, she moved into a career in company book-keeping before returning to her beloved music in the early 1990s once she had regained her ability on piano keyboard.

Anne took up a variety of music appointments, including organist and choir mistress at Holy Cross Church, St Helens. Anne then joined the St Helens Gilbert & Sullivan Society and the Merseyside Opera, as Chorus Mistress. She also found time to renew  her singing career as a Soprano Soloist with St Helens Sinfonietta Orchestra, Haydock Male Voice Choir and Parkside Colliery Male Voice Choir (acting as emergency conductor for the latter when  asked to step in at short notice). She has sung the demanding roles of Soprano soloist in Mozart’s “Requiem”, Vivaldi’s “Gloria”, Handel’s “Messiah” & Mendelssohn’s “Psalm 95” and as a Mezzo-contralto soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria and Handel’s Messiah.

Anne was appointed Musical Director of The Pilkington Choir in 1993, relishing the challenge of conducting a relatively small choir. Her enthusiasm for music has seen a significant increase in choir membership. She has in recent years modernised the choir’s repertoire introducing a wide variety of new music including Medleys from Stage Shows as well as songs written by modern writers such as Jay Althouse, Mark Heyes, John Rutter and Gwyn Arch She does however continue to challenge choir with a number of demanding classical pieces.

One particularly time challenging role Anne has taken on is to digitally transcribe music from our legitimate printed manuscripts to audio equipment to enable members to learn their parts more effectively. She spends literally hours on this task but it makes a huge difference in helping members learn their music.

We are delighted to have Anne as our Conductor and Musical Director.